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Happy New Year, all!! I hope you enjoyed a relaxing holiday season and had plenty of time with those you love most. This time of year is always great for reconnecting with friends you don’t see often, getting extended time with family AND…..plenty of delicious food and libations!

About that last part…libations…I have a new favorite ‘warm drink’ that I can’t wait to share with you. It’s perfect for this cold time of year when you want to stay in and drink something warm and toasty. Have YOU had a Tom & Jerry?

If YES: I’m so happy that I finally know what all the fuss is about.

If NO: MAN you need to try this!

The best way I can describe a Tom & Jerry is an egg noggy ice cream (the “mix”) that’s added to a hot beverage of either hot milk or hot water, some booze is mixed in and TA DA…a boozy float of goodness. It’s GOOD.

Now, you can buy Tom & Jerry mix at the grocery store…it’s usually near the ice cream in the frozen section. However, you can also make this at home and it’s really not terribly hard to do so. You likely already have everything on hand anyway, so I like to think you’re saving yourself a couple of bucks. 🙂

We made this over the Christmas holiday with Luke’s family and I’m sure I’ll be whipping up a batch for him and I to have in our own freezer for when we have friends over.

So, if you’re looking for a way to continue to celebrate New Year’s with fun and fancy drinks, this is one I recommend with two thumbs WAYYYYYY up in the air. It would also be great on a night in with your significant other, friends or heck, just a fun drink to have while you’re curled up binging on Netflix (ummm….Friends is on Netflix…already fully committed to watching the whole series from start to finish). Whatever the occasion – make this. Do it.

Here we go…thanks to Girls Guide to Butter for the base recipe! We adapted a bit but I was so thankful to have a place to start from. We made 6 cups of batter so we’d have enough for family throughout the time we were in WI, but you can easily adjust for the amount you’d like to make. Essentially, the amount of eggs equals the quantity of batter (in cups) you’ll end up with. Just adjust the other ingredients up or down depending on how much batter you’re going for. I

Ingredients (for 6 cups of batter):

For the Tom & Jerry mix…

6 eggs, separated (whites in one bowl and yolks in another bowl)

Pinch of salt (helps when whipping the egg whites)

2 sticks of softened unsalted butter

(approximately) 7 cups of powdered sugar

2 tsp of vanilla extract

1 tsp nutmeg

When ready to make the drinks…

Hot water or hot milk (your preference)

A “glug” of your favorite brandy

A “glug” of your favorite rum

Nutmeg to sprinkle of top

How to Make:

First step is to separate your eggs. I do this by cracking each in my hands and letting the whites slip through my fingers into a bowl until I’m left holding just the yolk. Then I slide the yolk into a separate bowl. Easy! Messy, but easy. Do this with all of the eggs and then set aside the bowl with the yolks.

Grab the bowl with the whites and locate your hand mixer or prep your stand mixer. Beat your eggs whites for several minutes until the whites come together to form stiff peaks. This takes several minutes, so chat up those in the kitchen or enjoy your current Netflix selection. One helpful hint would be to sprinkle in some salt while you’re whipping the egg whites, it helps!

Once the egg whites look something like the Rocky Mtns, slide them out of the bowl and into another bowl off to the side.

Back in your mixing bowl, add the softened butter and beat it until it’s light and creamy. Then add in the egg yolks and beat them in, then slowly add in the powdered sugar (I recommend adding a cup at a time, to prevent the powdered sugar cloud poofing up from the mixer).

Also add in the vanilla and the nutmeg and beat that in before finally beating in those egg whites you set aside.

The final batter looks a bit like ice cream that’s been sitting on the counter softening for an hour…and it tastes SO GOOD. I may have tried a wee bit.

All that’s left to do, is freeze it! This makes it more like a boozy float as the Tom & Jerry mix floats to the top before melting.

After freezing for a few hours, pull it out and grab your favorite collection of mugs.

Put 1 ice cream scoop amount into each mug…

Pour a “glug” (about 1/2 a shot) of each of your booze selections (rum and brandy work really well!)…

Then, fill the rest of the mug up with hot water or hot milk and sprinkle the top with nutmeg. We did water, but milk would make this even more creamy and would be JUST as great. (FYI…for anyone having a booze-free version, this can be just Tom & Jerry mix and the hot water or hot milk.)

Hope you guys try this beverage out and enjoy serving to family and friends too! Click this link for a printable recipe PDF.